MPV and RDW values are significantly higher in hepatitis B virus-infected patients, associated with severity, and can be defined as independent predicting factors in hepatic fibrosis. Further studies are required to determine the associations between MPV and the severity of fibrosis in hepatitis B patients.

No data on whether brucellar meningitis or meningoencephalitis can be treated with oral antibiotics or whether an intravenous extended-spectrum cephalosporin, namely, ceftriaxone, which does not accumulate in phagocytes, should be added to the regimen exist in the literature. The aim of a study conducted in Istanbul, Turkey, was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of ceftriaxone-based antibiotic treatment regimens with those of an oral treatment protocol in patients with these conditions. This retrospective study enrolled 215 adult patients in 28 health care institutions from four different countries. The first protocol (P1) comprised ceftriaxone, rifampin, and doxycycline. The second protocol (P2) consisted of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, rifampin, and doxycycline. In the third protocol (P3), the patients started with P1 and transferred to P2 when ceftriaxone was stopped. The treatment period was shorter with the regimens which included ceftriaxone (4.40 ؎ 2.47 months in P1, 6.52 ؎ 4.15 months in P2, and 5.18 ؎ 2.27 months in P3) (P ‫؍‬ 0.002). In seven patients, therapy was modified due to antibiotic side effects. When these cases were excluded, therapeutic failure did not differ significantly between ceftriaxone-based regimens (n ‫؍‬ 5/166, 3.0%) and the oral therapy (n ‫؍‬ 4/42, 9.5%) (P ‫؍‬ 0.084). The efficacy of the ceftriaxone-based regimens was found to be better (n ‫؍‬ 6/166 [3.6%] versus n ‫؍‬ 6/42 [14.3%]; P ‫؍‬ 0.017) when a composite negative outcome (CNO; relapse plus therapeutic failure) was considered. Accordingly, CNO was greatest in P2 (14.3%, n ‫؍‬ 6/42) compared to P1 (2.6%, n ‫؍‬ 3/117) and P3 (6.1%, n ‫؍‬ 3/49) (P ‫؍‬ 0.020). Seemingly, ceftriaxone-based regimens are more successful and require shorter therapy than the oral treatment protocol.

Ceftriaxone alone is not adequate in the management of pneumococcal meningitis due to penicillin-resistant pneumococci, which is a major concern worldwide. Although vancomycin showed a trend towards improving the prognosis of pneumococcal meningitis, significant correlation in statistical terms could not be established in this study. Thus, further studies are needed for the optimization of pneumococcal meningitis treatment.

No abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the impact of West Nile virus (WNV) and Toscana virus (TOSV) in febrile diseases of unknown aetiology in Eastern Thrace, Turkey; this study was conducted during August-October 2012, and included 18 clinical cases and 296 blood donors for local serosurveillance. Antibodies were determined via commercial assays and further tested for specificity via neutralization assays (NA). Viral RNAs were sought via specific and/or generic primers. WNV infections were diagnosed in seven patients (38.8%), detected via RNA+IgM in four, RNA in one and IgM and low avidity IgG in two cases. The most common symptom was fever (>38°C), followed by headache, malaise/fatigue, myalgia/arthralgia, muscle stiffness/lower back pain, anorexia, nausea/vomiting, diarrhoea, supraorbital/retrobulbar pain and abdominal pain. Neurological symptoms were noted in one individual. WNV strains in RNA-detectable patients were characterized as lineage 1. TOSV RNA or IgM were identified in two individuals with confirmed WNV infections and in one patient without evidence of WNV exposure. The clinical and laboratory findings in individuals with WNV/TOSV co-infection were comparable to those in WNV-induced disease. The TOSV strain in the patient with detectable viral RNA was characterized as genotype A. In local blood donors, seroreactivity for specific WNV and TOSV immunoglobulins was observed in 1.7% (5/296) and 14.4% (26/180), respectively. These findings indicate the emergence of WNV and TOSV-associated diseases in Eastern Thrace. WNV/TOSV co-infections were documented for the first time.